Texas Woman Suing Buffet For One Million Dollars After Getting Fried Rice Syndrome

Fried Rice Syndrome sounds funny and made up. Turns out it is a real thing.

Over in Waxachie, Texas, 62-year-old Germaine Mobley says she went to eat at Asian King Buffet in her city back in 2016. Germaine never had any problems with this particular buffet before. In fact, she had been there several times before this incident in 2016.

She says during the meal everything was fine, food tasted normal. On the way home, she became very ill. She started vomiting once she got back to her house. Hoping maybe once it was was out of her system she would feel better, but her health actually worsened the next day. She claims she had trouble breathing and her husband called an ambulance.

Court documents say that “as a result of consuming the fried rice in question, Mobley ingested Bacillus cereus.” Bacillus cereus is a type of bacteria that produces toxins and can be found on foods that have sat out too long at room temperature. The Food and Drug Administration says Bacillus cereus is commonly found in fried rice and is the cause of ‘Fried Rice Syndrome.’

Symptoms include cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea. Those symptoms should only last about 24 hours according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mobley says she was in the ICU for 8 days and was on a ventilator for 2 of those days because she choked on her own vomit while wearing an oxygen mask.

Her lawyers are arguing that Asian King Buffet didn’t maintain the food at the proper temperature or kept it out for a long period of time. Germaine and her lawyers are suing the buffet for one million dollars in damages. This is going to make me think twice at the Chinese food buffet because one of my favorite things to eat is the fried rice. I would hate for one of my favorite foods to hurt me.